Just wrapped up my 70w MH retrofit on my 14g Biocube.

[cody6766]

I added a few fans and set it up so I can use the PC lights as supplementation. It all fits in the stock hood with the splash guard too. Here are a few pics of the whole process. I have about $60 wrapped into the whole project.

BTW, thanks for the ballast Tony, it's working great!

 

[Cichlid-Dave]

Wow I like how you did that and since we have a 14g and a 29g biocube that really looks reasonable. I am however worried about the heat you will be sending in there.

 

[dugg]

Looks great. Especially for 50 bucks lol. I would think with the 4 fans you will be ok on heat issues. The color is nice too.

 

[BrianOKC]

That much heat on the plastic scares me but then again I've never seen how hot a 70 watt MH gets.

 

[pwhitby]

I was also curious about that, will the plastic stand up to the heat, the clear splash guard i mean. I know they sell mod kits to do that...just curious.

You did a great Job cody. What color is the bulb? can you get a variety of colors?

Please keep us informed on how well it works out for you.

I have 29g that hosts all of my rose bubbles with just the PC lights running on it.

paul.

 

[cody6766]

The heat concerns me a bit too. I felt the underside of the splash guard and it was pretty warm, but not discolored or disfigured. As far as the tank goes, it sat right around 77-78 when it was stock. I did have a heater in there, but I'm not sure if it was on or just there.

Before I left for class, the MH ran for about 30mins to an hour and the temp was at 77. I'll get a better idea tomorrow when i see it run for the full 5 hours.

If the plastic gets too hot I can just get a bit of glass from home depot and fit it into the hood. A few stand offs and longer screws would do the trick.

The bulb is a $25 el cheapo from ebay. It's a 20k and actually looks really good, despite the price. They offered 10k and 14k bulbs too. I just jumped on the site and searched for 70w metal halide and jumped on the one that looked best.

 

[Cichlid-Dave]

Well considering what most of the online nano custom shops charge that is an excellent upgrade and we might have to follow the way you did it. Please let us know on the temps of the tank and plastic.

 

[Fishboy9227]

My question is, will that plastic splash guard filter out the uv from the bulb? Or is that a concern on this bulb?

 

[cody6766]

The tank was at 80 today after being on a few hours. I'm hoping it stops there, but had to leave before I could be sure. I know the temp stopped climbing significantly at 80 and it held there for about an hour or 2.

I know the plastic blocks some of the UV light, but I think it's pretty insignificant. If you look in the pic of the splash guard you can see the piece of glass I siliconed it to the inside of the guard. I used the glass that came with the halogen spot light.

 

[Fishboy9227]

I thought it had to be tempered to get the job done. I dont know if that glass is. Also, the halide might melt the silicone you used to attach it to the plastic. Just a thought.....

 

[cody6766]

I'm pretty sure any glass will filter UV light. I could be wrong, but that's what I've always understood.

If the silicone melts it won't be the end of the world. It's siliconed to the inside of the plastic so it'll only slide when I open the hood, not drop into the water.

I saw a temp high of just shy of 81* yesterday. I calibrated my thermometer with a glass of ice with a bit of water and it read 31*, so it's off by a degree or 2. I remember back in chemistry we could get a glass of water down to 32* with just an ice bath by using enough ice, so I'd say it's +1* from reality.

I'm testing it today with the feeder door open. I'm almost 2 hours into the light cycle and the tank went from 77.6 to 78.5. That happened in the first 30mins and it's been stable since. Hopefully that'll do the trick. If it does I'm going to install a fan in that door and see what it does for me.

 

[tmn_3]

Great thread. I am looking into doing a cheap DIY MH mod to my biocube 29. How is your tank doing with this retrofit? Any problems with it since you set it up? Thanks

 

[Lytehouse]

Cool job Cody

Good luck with the new mod

 

[OKC_Casey]

this is an old thread so how did it work out Cody?

 

[cody6766]

It's still burning strong. The ebay MH bulb went through a pretty big spectral shift and intensity loss, but you can't expect too much from a $20 bulb. The tank is still a little hotter than I'd like but it's not hurting the softies and frogspawn in the tank. I have 2 small scroll coral frags in the tank (doing well), but no other SPS at the moment. It's more of my toy tank than anything. It's definitely a worthwhile mod IMO

 

[OKC_Casey]

thanks Cody

 

[Colin]

Dang, I just bought the Nanotuners PC upgrade. I could have easily done this for the same price! Oh well, need to work on heat issues anyway.

How's the plastic lens holding up?

--Colin

 

[gregzbobo]

I thought it had to be tempered to get the job done. I dont know if that glass is. Also, the halide might melt the silicone you used to attach it to the plastic. Just a thought.....

The silicone won't melt. It ought to be able to handle at least a couple hundred degrees temperature if my meager experience with silicone automotive gaskets and oilwell pump o'rings is any indication. Different formula, but essentially the same basic silicone rubber.

Cody, if you're willing to try it, you might re-orient your fans so the ones above the reflector both blow out, and the ones toward the rear of the hood both blow in. It'll keep the cross-flow loop going, but possibly be a bit more efficient. As it is, from what I can see the rear fans probably aren't doing much with one blowing in and getting sucked right back out the other one.

 

[cody6766]

The plastic had a little trouble. It blistered under the glass and yellowed/cracked. I cut it away and now have a hole in the middle of the plastic. The glass is still in place as it is in the pics above.

The bottom 2 fans died and I haven't sprung for replacements yet. I"m just running the stock ones right now. I keep the feeding lid open and the tank hovers around 83

 

[lauremf2002]

That sounds kinda toasty! I had a similar problem on a picotope I set up and found that the feed door was not enough. I actually ended up leaving the entire hood open a crack and this seemed to help tremendously. All you need is something small to prop it open. I used a chopstick. I know this isnt very high tech, but hey, "if it works, it works"